If there was ever a time that we needed more calm in our lives, it’s right now. With media left, right and centre, try to defend a little time to take a different approach to your everyday. Take on board some easy adjustments; switch off the tv and put your phone away and just enjoy looking out of a window and watching nature. In today’s post, we’re chatting through activities and hobbies that promote calmness, focus and concentration, ensuring that your home will be a hub of relaxed serenity in no time.
Painting
The great thing about painting is that it’s entirely subjective, you don’t have to be brilliant at it right away. Each piece allows you to disconnect from the outside world, figuring out your own personal style and refining your craft one stroke at a time. Practice makes perfect, isn’t that what they say? If you’re worried about staring at a canvas with no idea where to start, fear not – paint by numbers is the ideal solution. Simply follow their guide of colours on each part of the painting and voila, a masterpiece of your very own will unfold with each stroke of the brush! We don’t see this hobby getting old any time soon!
Cooking
An everyday essential and a fun one to conquer; two birds, one stone! All you have to do is choose something yummy from a cookbook/online, prep your ingredients and you’re set. Once your recipe isn’t super complicated and you’re not on a time crunch, cooking is a sure-fire way to guarantee an element of calm in your day. And you have something delicious to enjoy at the end: result! Our favourite things to cook are meals that you can make entirely from scratch: curry, chili, lasagne, pasta bake, cottage pie… The lengthier, the better! You can truly own the meal by choosing your own proportions, seasonings and flavours, mastering a unique recipe of your very own. Once you’ve perfected your favourites, you can even create your own mini collection book of go-to meals. That’s a major win, if you ask us! If any of you excel at this please do share, us Front Rowers love a bit of food gazing.
Reading
Calming, distracting AND good for your brain? Sign us all up! There are so many benefits to reap from regular reading: improved vocabulary, better sleep when done before bed, strengthened writing ability, tension and stress relief, mental stimulation and SO many more! For an hour or two, you can get lost in the world of fiction, soaking up characters and their stories and envisioning them playing out in your head. If fiction’s not your thing, there’s many more genres out there to enjoy. With everything from history and academia to self-help and philosophy, your levels of knowledge and skill will be top-notch in no time! There’s nothing better than the satisfaction that comes with reaching the end of an incredible read, are we right?
We’re thinking of starting a book club, leave us some thoughts if you think this would be good and of course recommend a read for us all to get lost in.
